What the…? Fired City Official Seeks $837,000 in Sick and Vacation Time

All of us can appreciate the determination that goes into making sure we get what is coming to us, especially when that involves unused vacation and sick time.

Yet, trying to dig into the pockets of your employer to the tune of nearly $840,000 after they made headlines for paying insanely high salaries to various officials who are now facing criminal charges — well, that lies somewhere between desperate and psychotic.

However, that’s not stopping Eric Eggena, who was the director of general services in the small Los Angeles suburb of Bell, California before being fired when a criminal scandal involving eight city officials hit the fan. Now he has filed a lawsuit against the city demanding to be paid for 329 unused sick and vacation days.

According to a Los Angeles news source, Eggena was paid as much as $421,000 a year in total compensation after receiving a starting wage of just $90,000 back in 2002.

Even though criminal charges were never pursued against Eggena in the excessive salary scandal that ruined eight of his co-workers, as well as drove out the mayor and all remaining members of the administration, authorities say he was certainly in question.

“His name came up a lot during our investigation, and he certainly received a suspiciously high salary,” said Deputy District Attorney Max Huntsman.

The lawsuit was served to the city last week, and now Eggena’s pursuit for compensation could hang him out to dry if Bell city attorneys choose to further question his activities during his employment with the city.

Eggena’s attorney, Richard Shinee, said the city must honor the contract, regardless of the terms, “because he was part of the team that assisted the city with regard to revenue and city housing and was compensated.”